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Electoral assessment primaires

Recently, for the French presidential elections, EMC, on its own accord, undertook and completed an evaluation mission of the first ever-held French socialist primaries. EMC’s unbiased and comprehensive approach was based on recognized international observation methodologies, collectively.The project found its source in the desire of a group of international electoral and media experts, inclined to personally invest themselves into this project due to its innovative nature.The concept of observing the French socialist primaries stemmed from the realisation of three important factors influencing the preparation of the French presidential race;

1) The current political environment and ‘savoir faire’ in France regarding the presidential race was not subject to the holding of primaries by the major political parties.

2) The announcement of multiple candidacies within a given party and in this instance, the Socialist party with, the sudden dropping out of the favourite public presidential candidate, contributed to make this primary a participative election;

3) The internal elections in the Socialist party, following the party’s Congress of Reims in November 2008, were marked by contestations and a number of irregularities. These ongoing internal feuds within the party could and did affect the credibility of not only the party but also specifically the candidate nominated for the presidential race.